| Full Name | Talbot, Catherine |
|---|---|
| Birth Date | 1721-05-21 |
| Death Date | 1770-01-09 |
| Birth Place | Berkshire (England) |
| Death Place | London (United Kingdom) |
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| Biography | Catherine Talbot was born the posthumous and only child of Edward Talbot and Mary Martin. She and her mother joined the household of her father’s close friend, Thomas Secker, a distinguished scholar and cleric; he offered her housing, allowances and an inheritance. Talbot also received a liberal education in Secker’s household, including classical, English, French, and Italian literatures, as well as history, scripture and astronomy. Talbot wrote in a wide variety of genres: letters, verses, essays, dialogues, pastorals, and allegories; however, she refused to publish any works after 1750. Her two most significant works, Reflections on the Seven Days of the Week (1770) and Essays on Various Subjects (1772), were published posthumously by her close friend Elizabeth Carter, and they established her as an early rational moralist. Besides Elizabeth Carter, one of her female friends from the Bluestocking circle of female intellectuals, Talbot was also connected to Jemima Campbell, Mary Robinson and Samuel Richardson; she also befriended Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, who supported her financially. Talbot remained unmarried. In 1758, she refused a proposal of marriage to the canonical philosopher and Anglican bishop George Berkeley. In 1770, Talbot died from cancer at her home in Lower Grosvenor Street, London. |
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| Created | 2017-01-11, 10:49:40 |
| Updated | 2022-15-01, 03:51:31 |